Stupid Is As Stupid Does

After another night of ups and downs I was a little tired this morning.  Shocking.  I don't think the dog was out at 5am, although I probably wouldn't have heard it anyway.  Here is the latest email about the situation:


Our landlord has negotiated with the dog owner, but this dog owner seems did not has a good attitude for this problem.

Then, our landlord called the police man. And when the police man came and knocked their door, nobody in.

The police man suggested us to call 110 when the dog barks again in the early morning.


So, there you have it.  Hopefully we won't have to call the police man. 

Anyway, I was a little tired and the kids were throwing out requests at me.  "Can I have some cereal?  Can we watch a movie?  Can I have the bouncy house?  Can I have a burger?"  Yes, at 9am.  Finally I got around to the bouncy house idea.  It seemed like a good one so I unfolded it and attached it to the blower.  I plugged the transformer into the wall, then the blower into the transformer and snapped on all the buttons.  It sounded a little loud but it was working so I just sat and waited.  I started to notice a funny smell and it got stronger and stronger.  I sniffed and realized it was coming from the blower.  I yelled at Ryan to get off and I shut the thing down (if I shut it down while he's on it, he freaks out).  By this time the thing was pretty hot and there was a little bit of smoke coming from it.  I couldn't understand what the problem was since we had used the thing twice already and it worked fine.  I check the voltage selector on the back and it was okay then I looked at the front where I plugged the blower into the transformer.  This particular transformer is a step down or step up, which means that as long as you have the proper adapter to plug it into the wall, you can plug into a 110V or 220V receptacle on the front of it, depending on the appliance you are using.  Without even thinking, I had jammed the 110V plug from the blower into the 220V receptacle on the damn transformer.  I think the thing is toast.  We tried it a few times after and no luck.  Talk about feeling like a complete tool.  Nicholas was kind enough to point out to me, as I have to him, that I should think before I do something, especially when it's so bad.  The good thing is that China appears to be the bouncy house capital of the world so I think we will be able to get another one.  I just have to figure out how to find it.

Ayi showed up today at 12pm and got right to work.  A little while later I was making a late lunch for the kids and myself and asked her (in Chinese!) if she was hungry.  She said no but then when we sat down to eat I asked her again and she said yes.  I don't know if the food smelled really good or if she was just starving.  I thought after the first lunch I made her she would decline another, especially since both times it was stirfry and rice.  I guess it must not be too bad. 

I brought the laptop over so we could chat and after a bit I asked her birthday.  She pointed down and said, "jinri" or "today!".  I was actually a little shocked.  It was kind of bizarre.  I told her that she should have told me and that she didn't have to come to work today, but I guess since it was only her second day, of course she wouldn't have told me.  I think everyone should have their birthday off, with pay.  Perhaps she can take another day in lieu.  We did give her a package of Canadian maple syrup candies and I hope she will enjoy them.

As Ayi was leaving we walked out with her and took the hockey sticks, balls and net.  We set up near the same place we did last time and again our playing drew spectators.  They were probably wondering what the point of the game was since there were only three of us and we just passed the balls around and fought over them a little bit.  Eventually a man with a little dog came by and she joined our game.  Anytime I shot the ball to Nick or him to me, the little dog would chase it and kick it around.  We had a good laugh at her!  She started picking it up and taking it to her owner and after a while would instead drop it at Nick's feet.  He had fun playing with her and it was really cute.  No camera though!

I managed to complete an important task today, one that I have been puting off.  I called the Michelin School here in Shenyang and asked the lady if we could come have a look.  She pointed out that the schooling there is all in french, which I did know, and that they do teach in english at the Shenyang International School.  At one point we had considered sending the kids to the french school in Truro so it is not out of the question.  We are going tomorrow morning at 9am to the Michelin School and she offered to call the International School and tell them we would come there after.  I guess we will go and get all the details and the see if we even want to send him this fall.  He definitely needs to do something, I think he's getting pretty bored. 

So I think that's about it for tonight.  Tomorrow should be an interesting day - I will try to remember to get some pictures of the schools.  Have a great day everyone!